Leicester and West Ham are preparing with stadium training for behind closed doors games... but Newcastle's ground is still on lockdown - how outdoor toilets, twice-weekly tests and no gym sessions have become the Premier League's new normal

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It has long been said that you cannot replicate the atmosphere of a matchday during training drills, an oft-heard excuse in the wake of a penalty-shootout defeat, for example.

Not now. As West Ham proved over the weekend, if you want to recreate that unique game-day experience, simply pop your kit on and play a practice match inside your empty stadium.

This is the world in which the Premier League will exist during the coming months, where what would ordinarily feel like an inter-squad kickabout is actually not too far removed from the real competitive action.

West Ham's first team players had a practice match at the London Stadium at the weekend

Leicester have confirmed that they will play in-house friendlies at the King Power Stadium

Leicester City, like West Ham, have confirmed that they will play in-house friendlies at the King Power Stadium in the next couple of weeks before the top-flight season resumes on June 17.

The Hammers' training match is said not to have lasted for more than 60 minutes and was conducted in controlled conditions, adhering to the Premier League's phase two return to training protocols.

And Brendan Rodgers acknowledges his Leicester players must adapt quickly now their supporters will no longer be cheering them on.

He said: 'We'll have some practice games in our own stadium before we play. So we'll play at the King Power Stadium, so they'll feel and get a sense of that.

'The game is not the same. It's absolutely not. It can't be. However, it's what we have to do. The intensity and commitment of the players will still be there.'

Take a look at the Bundesliga - where home teams have won only 21 per cent of matches since its resumption (down from the usual 40 per cent win ratio) - and you understand why there is a need to expose players to the abnormality of their new environment. 

West Ham have been training in full kit in an empty London Stadium ahead of the league return

Leicester boast a home record so far this season that only Liverpool at Anfield have bettered

Fail to do that and home comforts could soon become home discomforts.

For some clubs, such as Newcastle, that will mean making their stadium operational again having more or less shut it down after staff were furloughed in March.

They, like most clubs, are currently feeling their way back in amid the sanitised and somewhat surreal surrounds of what they hope is a Covid-proof training ground.

The greatest relief for players and managers has been last week's return to contact training, evidenced by Newcastle's Fabian Schar thundering through team-mate Isaac Hayden in footage released by the club.

And this week will see further restrictions eased with work on set-pieces and close contact now permitted, not that players will be celebrating the monotony of a throw-in rehearsal.

It will be a little while yet, however, before every-day pleasures such as gym sessions and breakfast and lunch with team-mates can be enjoyed. For now, this is a drive-thru training experience, where players only leave their cars to play.

Premier League leaders Liverpool have been stepping up their training regimes this week

Mesut Ozil and Dani Ceballos battle for the ball at Arsenal's London Colney training ground

Temporary, outdoor toilets and medical tents give the feel of a summer music festival, albeit minus that casual proximity to others.

And there is nothing casual or lax about the existence of a Premier League footballer right now. If anything, twice-weekly tests for coronavirus has afforded them and their families protection that the majority of the country must do without.

Other concerns remain, such as an increase in muscle injuries given the reduced preparation time and frequency of matches, but that is offset against the likelihood of five substitutions and a reduction in intensity caused by the absence of supporters.

The challenges presented are new and are sure to amplify as the season nears. 

Fitness and trying to hone match sharpness are said to be the priority for managers at present, especially as intense tactical work - be that on the training ground or in the analysis suite - have thus far not been allowed.

Newcastle will have to make their stadium operational again having more or less shut it down

In an age of information overload, could it be that players feel liberated from the reduction in data and instruction?

The Premier League is a unique product and that is why it is the best in the world. How it looks in its new setting will be fascinating to survey.

What happens on the training pitches and inside deserted stadiums in the coming days and weeks, however, will go a long way to determining success or otherwise.

Survival of the fittest has never felt more apt.